I
have become slightly obsessed with a new book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
(Canongate, £28), published here this week. Its author, Samin Nosrat, distils the secret of successful cooking down to those four elements; she argues that understanding each frees us up to cook with intuition, rather than blindly doing what we’re told to in a recipe.

Salt enhances flavour, fat delivers flavour, acid balances flavour and heat determines the texture of your food. For a dish to be in perfect balance, then, all four need to work together; if it’s not quite singing, a quick run-through of Nosrat’s list will soon tell you what’s needed: a squeeze of acidic lemon, say, some fatty avocado or creamy cheese, a pinch of salt.

For all that’s been written about cooking over the years, this four-word philosophy is revolutionary in its simplicity. It also explains why the addition of Spanish chorizo or Italian ’nduja (a spreadable Calabrian salami) is pretty much a cheat’s way to make anything delicious. Both can be added to all sorts – stuffed into squid, stirred through a pasta sauce, dotted on top of pizza, stirred into scrambled eggs, spread on bread and cheese – to make a dish complete.

Salt, fat, acid, heat: add spicy and smoky to that list and it’s a roll call of Samin Nosrat’s must-haves. These recipes make the most of them

Cheese, chorizo and spring onion pancakes

This is a great weekend brunch. If you want to get ahead, make the filling a day or so in advance, but the batter is best made just before you cook it. Makes four pancakes.

Dry-fry the chorizo in a saute pan on a high heat for two minutes, stirring, until just cooked, then tip into a bowl, add all the other filling ingredients and stir to combine.

For the batter, put the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and a quarter-teaspoon of salt in a second bowl. In a jug, mix the egg yolks, milk and butter, then whisk into the dry ingredients to make a thick batter. In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold into the batter.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan on a medium-high flame, then spoon four or five tablespoons of batter into the pan. Flatten out the pancake a little with the back of the spoon, then top with three to four tablespoons of the filling, patting it gently into the batter with your hand. Flatten again with the spoon, leave to cook for two to three minutes, then flip and cook on the other side for a minute or two, until golden. Transfer to a board, and repeat with the remaining batter and filling, to make three more pancakes. Cut each pancake into quarters and serve with lemon wedges.

’Nduja potato sandwiches

A very tasty pre-dinner drinks snack. If you have one, use a mandoline to cut the potato as thin as possible, but it’s not the end of the world if you end up having to cut them by hand into slightly thicker slices: you’ll just need to finish them off in the oven. You can make these in advance and warm them through just before serving. Makes 12-16 sandwiches, to serve six as a snack.

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put the ’nduja in a medium bowl with the garlic, sage, anchovies, walnuts, parsley and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Mix well, breaking up the ’nduja as you do so.

Using a mandoline, ideally, cut the potatoes lengthways into 2- to 3mm-wide slices: you want broad, thin slices, so save the ends for your next soup. You’ll need 24-32 slices in total.

Take one slice of potato and top it with 15-20g of the ’nduja filling, spreading it into a roughly 5mm-thick layer. Top with a second slice of potato (of similar size). Press together well and set aside. Repeat with the remaining potatoes and filling, until all the ’nduja mixture has been used up (if there’s any filling left over, you may need to slice a bit more potato).

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on a medium-high flame.

Spoon the flour on to a small plate and mix with a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Pour the eggs into a medium bowl. Dip each “sandwich” into the flour, turning it so both sides are evenly coated, then dip into the egg until completely covered.

Carefully lower a few sandwiches into the hot oil and fry for four to five minutes, turning them halfway, until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oil, transfer to a wire rack lined with kitchen towel and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches in the same way. (If your potato slices are thicker than 2- to 3mm, they’ll need five to 10 minutes extra cooking in a 190C oven, to make sure they’re cooked through.)

Cut each sandwich into halves or quarters and serve warm with lemon wedges and soured cream.

As well as being delicious, the rainbow chard really adds to the look of this dish; but swiss chard will work, too, if you can’t get hold of the colourful variety. Serve with rice, barley or alongside roast chicken. Serves two to four as a side dish.

Heat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8 and position a rack near the top. Cut the thicker, bottom part of the chard stalks in half lengthways (so they’re roughly the same width as the thinner parts), then put in a bowl with the courgettes. Put the chard leaves in a second bowl.

Combine 60ml olive oil with two teaspoons of lemon zest and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Pour half the oil mixture into each bowl and toss to coat the vegetables (take care not to break the courgette ribbons). Tip the courgettes and stalks on to a large oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, spreading them out as much as possible. Roast for eight minutes, until just cooked but still bright and retaining a bite.

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Spread the chard leaves over the top of the roast veg and return the tray to the oven for five minutes, until the leaves are slightly crisp. Tip everything out on to a large platter, to stop the vegetables cooking (they will be hot, so just slide them off the parchment paper). When they are cool enough to handle, gently toss so everything is mixed together.

Heat a medium nonstick frying pan on a high flame. Once hot, fry the chorizo for four minutes, stirring, until cooked and crisp, then take off the heat and stir in the garlic and the remaining tablespoon of oil.

Using your hands, gently mix half the herbs into the vegetables and scatter the rest on top. Spoon the garlicky chorizo and its oil over the vegetables, then finish by sprinkling over the remaining lemon zest and juice, and a good grind of pepper.